Just Another Old Love Song
by w8ing4huddy
Summary: House is seeing someone? That's not even PLAUSIBLE, Cuddy thinks to herself. He's not CAPABLE of being in a relationship. Just a fun little take on the aftermath of Cuddy's unexpected discovery. Not a songfic but named after a song all the same


Disclaimer: House, M.D. is 100% David Shore's possession.

* * *

_(So I opened ANOTHER document in my House file, realized how close I was to finishing it, and actually stayed up to do so. But being that it's after 5 a.m. and I haven't gone to bed yet in order to finish this, I'm not making any promises that it WON'T be a little OOC. Though honestly, these days I'm not sure exactly WHAT classifies as being OOC where Cuddy is concerned, because she seems to constantly change on me and if Lisa Edelstein is right and the characters don't actually change but just reveal different parts of who they are to you as time passes, then I'm thinking pretty much anything flies at this point, at least where Cuddy is concerned. :) I'm citing Joe Purdy's song, "Just Another Old Love Song," for my inspiration. It's a pretty little song, if you have time to pull it up on YouTube. Hope you enjoy!)_

* * *

Cuddy stared after House and Wilson as they got in the elevator, the doors closing behind them, taking the two guys she'd formerly viewed as the best friends she had, away from her. Even after they were long gone her gaze lingered unseeingly upon the closed metal doors, out of focus and almost lost despite standing in her own overly familiar hospital. House was… He was… _sleeping_ with someone? Who _wasn't _a hooker? He was… _seeing_ someone? A _real _someone? She… She didn't even know what to think of that. Her brain had frozen just as her body had, unable to process what she'd just overheard. He couldn't be involved with someone. Because House _wasn't_ _capable _of a relationship, she reminded herself. But then she remembered Stacy. Only, really, could she _count_ Stacy? Their relationship had taken place prior to his infarction. And anything between them since had been doomed at best, right from the start. No. House wasn't capable of a relationship. Not with anyone. Especially post-infarction. So then… how was she supposed to interpret what she'd just overheard?

"Dr. Cuddy. _Dr. Cuddy_," someone repeated, their voice finally penetrating her thoughts a minute later.

She turned to find her quasi-assistant standing behind her with a raised eyebrow. "You okay?" Regina asked with a skeptical look. "I've been trying to get your attention for the past couple minutes."

Cuddy tucked her hair back behind an ear while putting forth her most competent, reassuring smile before nodding. "I'm fine. What did you need?"

"Dr. Levin's patient is going into surgery in twenty minutes. You asked me to remind you to swing by so you could be present, and in being there, hopefully persuade the patient with your attentiveness from suing for the _botched_ _job_ Dr. Reinhart did last week," she replied, going into detail because she wasn't quite sure where Cuddy had gone off to in mentally checking out a moment before, although she refrained from commenting directly upon it, opting to avoid a negative reaction if she pushed her luck in doing so.

"Is that all?" Cuddy asked then despite doubting that it was even a _remote possibility_, nodding to acknowledge what she'd just said while fully expecting the list to go on with other responsibilities Cuddy had to find time to fit into her schedule.

Regina smiled, reading her mind. "Surprisingly, that's all I have for you. With the exception that Lucas is holding on line two for you."

"Okay. I'll head upstairs to Cardiology just as soon as I get off the phone," Cuddy breezily declared, tossing her hair and bypassing her to head for the front desk to pick up the phone, ignoring the teasing look that had been tagged on at the end of Regina's statement. "This is Dr. Cuddy," she greeted a moment later, having been quoted the wrong line one too many times to risk answering in any less professional a manner on a phone that wasn't hers, albeit Regina had never screwed up yet, _that she knew of_.

"Hey babe," Lucas replied. "I tried your cell but it went to voicemail."

"I left it in my office," she responded in slight irritation with herself, hating when she forgot it in her haste to accomplish something.

"No big deal," he dismissively waved off. "I just wanted to remind you that we have dinner reservations tonight. I'll meet you at the house at 6:30?"

Cuddy quickly mentally sifted through what she had on her agenda for today, reasoning out when she'd have to leave in order to be ready to go by then. She'd forgotten all about the fact that he'd asked her to plan on a date night out tonight. She cringed at the thought of only now calling Marina to see if she could stay late but she didn't really have much of a choice. She _had _given Lucas her word that she'd put it on her calendar, even if she'd been distracted and forgotten to. On top of that, four out of five nights last week he'd beat her home and stayed with Rachel while she finished up her tasks at the hospital. She really did _owe_ him a nice night out.

Cuddy smiled into the earpiece as if it would aid her in convincing him that she'd remembered and then hedged, "I'll call Marina right now and confirm with her that she's planning on staying late tonight."

"Already did," he smoothly replied, not commenting upon the fact that Marina had known nothing about their plans when he'd made arrangements with her last Friday night before she left for her weekend off. He already knew that came with the territory. Lisa always seemed to be running around like a chicken with its head cut off and while professionally that paid off, her personal life sometimes got sacrificed in the process, her mind too occupied with other things. Since the last thing he wanted to do was make waves, he opted instead to let it slide, hoping one day she'd prioritize their life together, more than she was currently capable of doing.

Slightly embarrassed now, Cuddy bit her lip but instead of apologizing or acknowledging that she'd forgotten, murmured, "Thanks, Lucas."

"No problem. I'll see you at 6:30."

"Okay. I'll look forward to it," she replied, her voice soft with affection and gratitude for all he did for her. If only she could hire him as her assistant, she thought to herself, knowing Regina was growing weary of the additional duties Cuddy threw her way all the time.

"Oh, and Lise?" he added, his voice carrying an undertone of slyness to it.

Cuddy's forehead wrinkled as she waited upon what he was going to add while glancing at her watch to see what time it was. "Yes?" she prompted.

"Why don't you wear that black lace teddy I like tonight? Who knows? Maybe I'll make it _worth your while_," Lucas suggestively instructed.

Cuddy didn't mean to come across the way she did but her disbelief was evident nonetheless. "Tonight?" she questioned in bewilderment, her thoughts then shifting to how much she disliked that which was his personal favorite, something he'd bought her all on his own. Itchy wasn't _sexy_. At least, it didn't make _her _feel like she was sexy. Though she supposed it did make her impatient to get it off and that probably worked for Lucas as well.

His amusement was apparent even as he teasingly retorted, "What? You think I can't get it up anytime _other _than in the morning?"

Cuddy bit her lip in embarrassment at how he'd read her words, knowing that that wasn't what she'd meant but that it wasn't exactly… that far from the truth. Sex was a daily happenstance between them but it _always_ took place in the morning before she left for work. That's just the way their relationship was. She wasn't _complaining_ about how routine it had become, though inwardly she couldn't help but acknowledge it was indeed quite routine now. Still… Frankly, she was just grateful that she was having sex at all. "I… We don't… I mean, Lucas," she finally managed, soothingly. "I didn't mean that. I am sure you can… _anytime_ night or day. It's just that we don't usually…"

Lucas laughed at her broken sentences, knowing she was trying to choose her words carefully since she was standing at the nurse's station while also attempting to soothe his masculine pride as any good girlfriend would.

"Wear the black lace," he just repeated, leaving it at that.

Cuddy exhaled, her nose wrinkling, but Regina was looking pointedly from her to the big clock on the wall and she knew she was running out of time. She'd leave it until tonight to try and make up for her untimely incredulity. "I've got to go. I... I'll be ready and waiting at 6:30 p.m.," she reassured then.

"Good. I have to go too. Have a great day, Lise," he replied.

"Bye, Lucas," she murmured softly, hanging up a second later.

"They're in 317. You've got about five minutes before they wheel him out and then put him under," Regina informed her when she turned around.

Cuddy shot her a grateful smile for making her job easier before heading quickly in the direction of her office to grab her phone. Then she took off in the direction of the elevator, taking the stairs when it didn't immediately open for her.

* * *

Forty-five minutes later Cuddy looked up from where she stood in the clinic to see Thirteen signing in. "Doesn't House have a patient?" she asked in confusion, being that the last she'd heard, House and his team had been called in Saturday, a wealthy patient having come in promising a donation if he was cured in hopes that it would spur them on to going to whatever lengths were required to solve his own medical mystery. Not that a donation was all that great of a motivational point for House, she acknowledged internally.

Thirteen nodded. "House sent me down to complete my clinic hours for the week while Foreman and Chase wait upon results from the lab. He's in a fairly good mood today so he's strategizing who he sends to do their clinic hours and when." She smiled but in amusement added, "Foreman's being tiresome but House is keeping him around the office while his good mood holds. My guess is, that way when his mood shifts again, he'll be able to order Foreman immediately down to the clinic so he doesn't annoy him further."

Cuddy rolled her eyes as Thirteen expected her to but the comment about House being in a good mood had brought her back to earlier, what she'd overheard, and the… reason for why he was probably in a good mood. She struggled to do so but ultimately succeeded in keeping her expression to one of neutrality as she nodded in acknowledgement and turned back to the paperwork she'd been signing off on, an indication that the conversation was over and Thirteen was free to get to work. She grabbed a patient file and entered an exam room a moment later but it wasn't until the door closed behind the patient whose name Thirteen had called that Cuddy's pen stilled and she bit her lip uncertainly, not knowing how she felt about _this_ while… also aware of the fact that she shouldn't feel _anything_ at all. After all, House was free to be with whomever he wished, so long as it didn't happen on her hospital's grounds. And… she herself was _blissfully _happy with Lucas anyway. So why would she care about who House was seeing and where it ranked on a serious scale? She wouldn't.

All the same she set aside the file and quickly turned, slipping into her office to flip through a stack of files she had been given and had conveniently at her disposal, set upon her desk, making up a compelling assortment of potential patients to throw House's way once he finished up his current case. This was irrational. This was really and certifiably insane. But she… she had to go up. She had to feel him out somehow. And she better have an excuse ready to explain her visit because otherwise… Well, Cuddy didn't want to think about what House might make of her visit otherwise.

* * *

House heard Cuddy's heels in the hallway as they tapped their way towards his office and knew she was coming to see _him_ long before his door opened to admit her. He hesitantly looked up from the cat scan images he'd been studying thoughtfully by lamplight, certain that they'd missed something within, and met her gaze, an eyebrow lifting as he pointedly waited for her to speak.

Her shoulders straightened even more as she stood there studying him, a slight smile playing on her lips. She had meant to lead with the file but the file was all but forgotten as her eyes searched his, her thoughts racing ahead of her even as she carefully maintained her smile.

"Congratulations," she said before she could realize what she was saying and how _off_ her choice of opening statements to lead into this _potential _conversation was. Why she was suddenly so nervous she didn't know, but now that she'd said _that, _there was nothing for it but to stick with what she'd said and pretend like that was exactly what she'd been aiming to say when she'd first opened her mouth.

"Thanks," he dryly replied. "But the patient's only just been stabilized. _Not_ cured. So hold the Doctor of the Year Award for the day in which you cash his first pay out."

"No, I… That wasn't what I was talking about," she corrected, trying to muddle through her awkwardness and the wave of confusion he'd thrown her way in his immediate and yet customary sarcastic response.

House's lips pressed together but his eyes dropped back to the cat scan and he ignored her, hoping she'd just drop it. He supposed this was unavoidable. He'd known eventually she'd come and say… _something. _Undoubtedly, something he'd consider really stupid_._ He just hadn't counted on it being today. By the time he'd realized she was nearby earlier it was too late to avoid her overhearing something he hadn't ever intended her to.

"I meant…" she began, only to be interrupted.

"I know what you meant," he resignedly muttered, his eyes not leaving the cat scan before him.

Cuddy froze and then frowned, not knowing what to do or say in reply. This was not how she'd planned this to go. Perhaps she _should _have planned on this going dismally, but… Thirteen had said he was in a good mood and… the simple truth was, she'd wanted information. And she hadn't waited long enough to aggressively plan each and every counterattack for anything she could potentially be on the receiving end of, should this conversation go awry. Maybe… Maybe House just didn't understand where she was coming from. Not that _she_ understood where she was coming from any better than he did, she helplessly acknowledged to herself.

"I'm trying to say that I'm happy for you," she declared, telling herself that her stomach hadn't started churning in saying that because it was a lie but because of the awkwardness of how this conversation was playing out.

"Did you need me to look at that?" he cut her off then, his face expressionless but for the sharp edge to his eyes as they pointedly went to the file in her hand, ready to look at anything she asked him to if it meant this lackluster conversation could come to an end.

Cuddy's mouth opened and closed wordlessly for a moment before she nodded and brought her arm up to hold it out towards him, finally crossing the distance that separated them to hand it to him, her hands then intertwining as she fidgeted unbeknownst to her. Needing something to say, she mumbled, "I know you have a patient but I thought I'd ask you to take a quick look at this file and get your opinion on it."

House didn't bother to look up at her, simply flipping pages and scanning symptoms from the medical history. A minute later he handed it back to her and painstakingly instructed, "Biopsy his small intestine for confirmation but its Whipple's disease. The symptoms are almost all there. They just aren't quite obvious yet. The doctor ignored the weight loss because of his gastric bypass. Stupid, but understandable."

Cuddy's eyes widened slightly in incredulity that he was so certain of a diagnosis after only briefly looking it over. She opened the file and scanned it, searching for the evidence that had led him to his conclusion. It made sense. She nodded then before closing the file and looking up at him. "Okay. I'll have someone do the biopsy and then start treatment."

House just nodded curtly, getting to his feet to place the cat scan on the screen, flipping the switch to illuminate it better than his office lamp had accomplished, completely ignoring the fact that Cuddy continued to linger nearby.

Here it comes, he thought in irritation as she shifted from one foot to the other before clearing her throat.

"House," she began, moistening her lips, unable to just leave as she knew she should. "I really _am_ happy for you. This… This is good. You're in a relationship and moving on with your life and…"

"_Shut up_," he emphasized from between clenched teeth, his eyes closing as his hands fisted at his side. It was one thing to take this from Wilson but quite another to have it come from Cuddy.

"House, I…" Cuddy mumbled in shock, not knowing what she was going to say but not understanding his reaction either.

He turned to look at her, his mouth forming a firm line, his eyes narrowed. "Just shut up Cuddy. You are my _boss._ You _aren't_ my _friend_. So just _stop now_."

"But I…" she started to argue, her eyes wide but expression somewhat pinched following his sharp words.

"_No_. You _aren't,_" he informed her, heavily punctuating each statement. "And that wasn't my decision but _yours _so don't pretend like you don't know what I'm talking about and don't act like you are something to me that you _aren't_. _You _revoked your friendship from _me _months ago. You repeatedly said that there would never be anything between us and then you made it clear on numerous occasions that you were nothing more than my boss and I nothing more than your employee. You don't get to go changing your mind now, Cuddy. You _made_ your choice," he declared almost mutinously.

"But I'm _not _changing my mind," she countered instantly, trying to defuse the situation.

"Great. Then you'll understand why my personal life is none of your business and why it would be inappropriate for you to now think it's something for us to talk about," he stated gruffly.

Cuddy felt like she'd been slapped and yet everything he had said was an accurate depiction of what _she _had decided. And what was worse, for the first time she was really convicted by how little she'd meant what she'd said. Or at least, how little she'd intended to live by that, having it constrain _her behavior _instead of his, and… just all the ways this could play out and what the consequences could be. What it would cost _her. _She wasn't lying per se in saying she hadn't changed her mind. It was just… That had never been what she'd intended when she'd said what she had. And now, for the first time, House had acknowledged without actually coming right out and saying it that he might have accepted her words but that didn't mean he'd felt nothing in having her say what she had. He'd never exposed his wounds, inflicted by something _she _had said, so thoroughly as he was in this moment. The guilt swirled up within her, making her all too aware of the danger of bile quickly creeping up her throat as bitterness coated her tongue.

She swallowed hard, unable to meet his eyes. But then suddenly needing to better comprehend what she'd done and what it was going to cost her, reasoned in a murmur, "But when… When things seemed to be falling apart here a couple months ago and I thought I was going to lose my job because the insurance company wouldn't meet my demands, you… were there for me," she finished lamely, biting her lip, hoping he'd see her point and not ask her to state it.

House was mute for a moment but then he turned away from her and quietly mumbled, "Yeah well… Just because you took your friendship away didn't mean that I took mine from you, Cuddy."

She turned to look at him, her eyes full of regrets which she hadn't expected to feel when she'd woken up that morning. Without thinking, Cuddy said, "Well I'm ready to be your friend again."

House scoffed before disdainfully muttering, "Bully for you."

Her shoulders sagged in despondency at her inability to say the right thing, the right way, when she probably most needed to since this was House and he required a certain kind of skill when trying to correct a situation with him; but she quickly amended her declaration. "I mean, I'd liketo have the opportunity to be a friend to you again, if… you'd let me."

House sighed wearily but then stated under his breath, "No. You can't be my friend, Cuddy. You're my boss. That's all you can be anymore."

Cuddy numbly nodded and hurried for the door, feeling like if she didn't get away in the next ten seconds, she… Well, she wasn't sure what she'd do but it wouldn't be good. Nevertheless as she reached the door she paused only to hear herself quite brokenly confess, "I lied, House. I'm not happy for you. I… I can't be because I don't want to find I've lost you."

Cuddy waited on bated breath for his reply, too scared to look at him, terrified that she'd just admitted something and didn't have the first clue how he'd take it nor what she'd really meant by saying that, for she'd never had to consider losing _him_. In _any _of this. And anyway, _why _would she worry about losing him at all? Why… Why did this matter _so much?_ Why did it leave her throat swollen shut, clogged with emotion she couldn't claim to comprehend?

House didn't read her the way she'd expected him to. "Cuddy," he said finally, almost put out. "Seeing someone isn't exactly synonymous with quitting my job. I've never been employed as long as I have here. It's the one constant in my life. If you haven't figured this out by now…, I'd never leave PPTH of my own free will. So you have nothing to worry about. You're Diagnostics department and the donors it brings in are practically guaranteed to you unless something happens to cause you to fire me."

"I'd never fire you," she blurted out immediately, turning back to face him.

House smiled half-heartedly at that rather begrudgingly, but then reminded her, "You have before."

"Never seriously," she dismissively stated, shaking her head.

Silence fell between them but after a moment Cuddy took the excuse he'd given her and asked, "What if things go somewhere between you and… whoever she is? What if she has to move for some reason? What if she wanted you to go with her?"

House rolled his eyes. "Get real," he dryly remarked. "Cuddy, I'm… the world's _biggest _screw-up."

"You aren't though," she interrupted to declare, the realization hitting her so hard in that moment that it literally hurt to verbalize it; especially when acknowledging it would serve to hint at just how much she'd doubted him. "I… I wasn't sure you'd be able to come back after Mayfield," she admitted honestly, for the first time, to _both _of them. "And yet you did. Even then, I wasn't going to count on you being capable of staying around long-term. But you proved me wrong. And just look at how long you've gone without Vicodin now. If you were the world's biggest screw-up, you'd have gone back to it already."

House gave her a pointed look but then wryly pronounced, "The only reason I haven't screwed up yet and gone back on Vicodin is that something hasn't happened bad enough to drive me to it. Let's face it. Once an addict, always an addict. Recovery is a farce. Someone who dies without falling off the wagon is still an addict. They just didn't live long enough to have their addiction come back full force. It's just a matter of time, Cuddy. And that's not pessimistic. That's reality."

Cuddy's breath caught in her throat. His lack of a response to what she'd voiced, an _anticipated _response anyway, only went to show that he'd known… that he'd fully _expected _her to not believe he was capable of… much of anything, she supposed, and that was almost more painful a revelation than that she'd… given up on him completely. She wanted to argue with him that he was so much more capable of pulling his life together than any of them had given him credit for but arguing with House about personal matters was kind of like fighting a losing battle and clearly, she hadn't shown much faith herself, so she was the last person with any hope of convincing him it was true.

Instead of saying anything, she kept quiet, allowing him to continue with what he'd been saying. "Even if this relationship lasted, and it _won't_, _eventually _I'd screw it up. My job is the one thing I've managed to hold onto over the years. I'm not going to toss it away for a woman who may or may not be around a few years from now, still willing to put up with my crap."

Cuddy bit her lip but strangely enough, she felt a little better for the reassurance he'd given her, even if he'd missed the forest for the trees in his interpretation of what exactly she was acknowledging in saying she didn't want to lose him and her relief failed to say anything complimentary about just who she was, in her own eyes anyway. The truth was, she was still struggling to figure out _what_ she was feeling, suddenly wondering how she could so desperately want his assurance that things weren't about to change and he wasn't really seeing someone, jealousy having stolen over her, catching her unawares, while wildly attempting to figure out just how they'd gotten here, House clearly viewing their… _friendship_ as a thing of the past.

"Besides, at least for the time being anyway, I've still got Wilson here," he added.

"What do you mean 'for the time being'?" she inquired, now not liking the cryptic implication that she might be losing one of her best employees one day soon.

House shrugged. "Let's be honest. If he marries Sam, the _first _thing she is going to do is find the means to get him away from here. She doesn't like me and I don't like her. I'm not deluding myself into believing I'll be welcomed into a life they create together. And since she can't get rid of me, she'll do whatever it takes to get _him_ to go elsewhere."

"Wilson wouldn't leave PPTH and end your friendship just for Sam," Cuddy corrected with a clear rebuke to her words.

"Wouldn't he?" House asked softly. "She crushed him and yet he went back to her. And men do stupid things all the time over women. Let's face it. Wilson's desperate. He lost Amber because of me. Do you really think once he's convinced he loves her, he'd leave another woman just to…?"

House ended abruptly and Cuddy hated the implications of what he was trying to get across. "Then wreck things between them before it goes too far," she declared as if she suddenly believed it was a sensible solution, which House supposed for him, it was to an extent.

"Says the one who reminded me that things never work out the way I want them to when I do interfere and who implied once again that if it came down to a choice, _I_ wouldn't be the one chosen," House intoned, frowning as he looked away.

"House…" Cuddy grappled, pierced by his reminder.

"He's happy," he grunted out, interrupting her quickly. "If he's happy then… I don't want to be the one getting in the way of his happiness anymore," he lamely finished.

"And if you lose him anyway?" Cuddy hated to ask but didn't stop herself from probing, sometimes no more disposed to displaying wisdom and regard for others feelings than he was.

House looked away briefly, wondering how in the world he'd gone from clearly stating he had no interest in ever talking with her about anything personal again to being so regrettably transparent. All the same, he said with a shrug, "Then at least I'll still have my job."

"You'll still have me," she murmured after a second, her eyes searching for his, once more worrying her lip between her teeth.

House let out a bark of sardonic laughter and dryly replied, "Cuddy, I've _never_ had you."

Cuddy didn't know what to say to that and with retreat seeming like her best option, turned to head for the door, grabbing the doorknob once more.

House heard the doorknob turn and before he could stop himself he mumbled, "We can't talk like this. And we can't be friends. You were right all along, Cuddy. You're my boss and I'm your employee and that's all we are to each other. So from here on out I think it would be best all around if you don't talk to me unless it's about hospital stuff and... I won't seek you out unless I have to. Maybe you felt… _something _for me once Cuddy. But I… I love you _still_. And being around each other… It isn't good for _anyone_."

Cuddy couldn't turn around to look at him, tears leaking from her eyes not at his conclusion regarding the future bleakness of any friendship between them but at the storm of emotions his acknowledgement of just what he felt towards her had unleashed in a sudden flash of unexpected vulnerability. It took her a moment to unlock her throat but then she forced herself to ask what came out as more of a whimper. "Why… why are you telling me this _now, _House? Why couldn't you have told me this a couple years ago?"

House turned away from her, walking towards his desk and stopping in the space between it and the door to his balcony. He knew he could deflect and she would leave and it would be over with. But then again, would it be? He'd always have things he wanted to say to her that he never would. Could he move on and… potentially indulge in a taste of something resembling happiness with someone else when… he couldn't even leave what he felt for _Cuddy_ in the past? Sighing heavily he rubbed his forehead, but instead of being honest, he fell back upon his self-protecting security measures. "You should go."

"Damn it, House," Cuddy declared in frustration, her grip on the door tightening. "You don't get to tell me that and then _not_ explain yourself. You can't wait until I'm in a relationship with someone and then tell me you… You _owe_ me, House! If nothing else, you owe me _an answer!_"

A full minute passed in silence in which House said nothing. Cuddy had just given up on him answering her at all, her shoulders falling in resignation, shaking her head and turning the doorknob to leave, when he spoke up, causing her to halt her attempt to walk away and leave this behind her to move on with her life.

"I wanted to be with you," House began quietly in a subdued tone and somewhat despondently, his words slipping out one by one, his hesitation to be forthright in an explanation losing the battle when up against time that was quickly running out in the hourglass which was him and Cuddy. "I did. But… I had nothing to offer you, Cuddy. I'm selfish and misanthropic. I'm an addict. I say things I don't mean and that aren't even… true because I lose it and… lash out at those who matter _most_ to me. I drive away people because I… don't know what it would mean for me if I let them get close and then lost them. And I don't trust them to stay because… no one ever _has_. I'm miserable a good portion of the time. I don't even know _how _to be happy. If the concept of happiness is personally elusive, how could I make sure _you _were happy? I would have made you miserable and… killed any feelings you had for me without any real _effort_ at all. Eventually you would have grown tired of trying to make it work and you'd have left me. I… I drove Stacy off. I would have done the same with you. The difference would have been that I wouldn't have gotten over the loss of _you_ Cuddy. To love you… To _really _love you Cuddy and be allowed to love you, even receiving your love in return, only to then have you leave… I wouldn't have survived that. So I… I figured if you were willing to wait until I could offer you _something_ worth the effort a relationship with me would cost you… But honestly, I didn't know what I _could _offer you that you'd even want. People don't change, Cuddy. And I… I couldn't have stood by and watched you become miserable through being _with_ me. The truth is you were always better off _without_ me. I knew that. And then you moved on. You gave up on me. You adopted Rachel. And then I…" House shrugged, though he could see in the reflection off his windows that Cuddy wasn't facing him and wouldn't observe this when he glanced up slightly for the briefest second. "You found what you needed to be happy without me being a part of it. I… I loved you but what you needed suddenly changed and… left me at a loss as to what to do _now. _What was there for me to do about it, Cuddy? Maybe whatever you felt for me could have progressed to… to loving me before Rachel came along but… having you love me wouldn't have been enough to keep you. Not in the long run. Not when you now needed me to be something I'd never been and had no reason to believe I was capable of being. No one wants someone like me when they've got a kid to consider. I'm not father of the year material. But then I thought we… And I thought there was a _chance_, if only a slim one, that we _could _somehow work it out. Especially after Mayfield. I figured now that I was clean… Now that the pain was manageable… Maybe I _could _find a way to work it so that I could be there for you _and Rachel._ And then it didn't matter because you'd already found what you wanted in someone else. That's more than you wanted to know and it doesn't matter anymore anyway but… I have loved you for _years_, Cuddy and… I don't see that changing so I need to stay far away from you and I need to be with someone else not because I think it has any potential to last but because it's the only hope I have of _not _self-destructing if I have to live life without you _and _without Wilson. I can't leave PPTH because it might quickly prove to be all I have. But I can't be around you either because… being around you, just makes the loss of you all the more painful. You… you could have been _mine_, if I'd only had it together enough to offer you something worth the cost of being with me. But I didn't and… you never were and never will be. So… I really do want you to be happy, Cuddy. And while you might not believe me, I am glad Lucas does for you what I… couldn't."

Cuddy whirled around to face him, so incredibly angry with him and… with _herself_. All thoughts of Lucas were pushed aside as her fury grew. "House, you're an ass! You're the biggest idiot I've ever met!"

House slowly turned towards her, his expression somber even as he nodded in agreement. The crocodile tears on her cheeks and the tracks they were making had him struggling for an apology but he fell silent when she closed the gap between them, a hand raised. He braced himself, waiting for her to slap him hard across the face, not about to stop her. But then her other hand came up as well and her hands met his face not in anger but in a sudden display of tenderness as she pulled his head down and got up on tiptoes to press her lips to his with determination and purpose.

House was too stunned to react and as she deepened the kiss he was helpless to stop her, watching her wide-eyed as she kissed the hell out of him, her own eyes drifting shut as her fingers dove into the hair at the nape of his neck, bringing him infinitely closer to her. His mouth opened to hers the minute she nipped at his bottom lip and then her tongue met his and he groaned from deep within his throat as his arms came up to surround her, bringing her as close as she could possibly be to him as he kissed her back, letting her know without words just how deeply his feelings for her ran.

House was jerked from the kiss when Cuddy's fingers found the buttons on his shirt and began to undo them. Shoving her away from him for the sake of his own sanity, he held up a hand to reinforce the space that he needed to be between them. "No," he hoarsely forced himself to say when she looked up at him in bewilderment, her bereft expression causing him to take another step back even as his eyes went to her swollen rosy lips and flushed appearance, his already uneven breath catching in his throat at her absolute breathtaking state in this moment in time. "We're not doing this," he continued sternly. "I've been with two women who were married and neither one of them chose me in the end. I'm sorry. _I want this._ But I _know_ how this ends. I'm good for a romp in the sack but then you'll come to your senses and return to Lucas and I'll be left alone, trying _not_ to think of what I almost had and how I wasn't enough of what you needed to keep you. No. I'm not going to be your one night stand."

Cuddy took a step towards him, a slow smile pulling at her lips. "That's not how this is going to end, House," she murmured, brushing her hair away from her face with her fingers as she intently gazed upon him. It really was for the best that he'd stopped her before she'd gone any further, being that his _was _an office consisting of glass walls, but he'd confessed that he loved her and suddenly all that mattered to her was being with him, in every way possible, as _soon _as possible.

House scoffed, taking his own step back.

"You were right to stop me," she appeased rationally. "This can't continue _here_. But it _will _continue, House, and the sooner, the better, as far as I'm concerned. So tell your team that they can reach you by phone. I don't have anything really important scheduled for today anyway. Not that can't be put off until tomorrow. I'll tell Regina to reschedule what I do have and take a half day. Take me back to your place, House. I'm not nearly satisfied and I'm tired of losing time that we should have had together."

House shook his head, thoroughly disgusted. "We are _not _going _anywhere, _Cuddy. I _told _you. I've been there and done that. _Twice_. Third strike and you're out. No thank you."

Cuddy straightened, suddenly contemplating him with a frown. "Stacy left but you _told _her to," she pointed out, realizing he was still on this kick about having slept apparently twice with taken women and twice being dismissed shortly thereafter.

House's eyes narrowed and he glared at her before muttering, "And she didn't even _try_ to fight me on it. She _knew _she'd never be happy with me Cuddy." Changing the subject slightly, he stated evenly, "I know you and I have this… incredible, mind-blowing sexual chemistry between us but I am _NOT _doing this, Cuddy. I don't care _how _good the sex would be. Afterwards you'd go back to your boy toy and that would be it for me. Game over. And I'll tell you right now, that would be all it would take. _I'd _go right back to my Vicodin."

Cuddy smiled saucily, her eyes tracing over him. "It _is _going to be the best sex of our _lives_, isn't it?" she asked breathily, closing the distance between them so that she could place her hand on his chest, her eyes flicking from his eyes to his mouth as she moistened her lips with her tongue.

"Not _doing this,"_ he repeated dryly, his tone almost sing-song as he shook his head before removing her hand from his chest, handling it like it was a dead snake that he'd rather not touch but had no other choice but to.

Cuddy sighed but steeled herself to not take his behavior personally as she then queried, "Who was the other woman? And… before or _after_ Stacy?"

House rolled his eyes but had no reason not to answer her. If he could distract her perhaps he'd be able to get her to back off before he screwed himself over and succumbed to the pull she had over him. "After. And before you ask, she wasn't anyone you'd know."

"What was her _name_?" Cuddy bit out, not liking this at all with every passing second as an ugly monster reared its head in her chest cavity.

House's eyes narrowed in suspicion, trying to read her tone. "Lydia," he finally answered. "I met her at Mayfield. And no, she wasn't a patient. Nor was she on staff. Her sister-in-law was there. She'd come to visit her and…" House shrugged, not willing to go into detail with her when there was no reason to. "_Stuff happened_."

"_Stuff?_" Cuddy repeated irritably.

Recognizing her behavior it suddenly dawned on him that she was genuinely _jealous_. He couldn't help the smile that crept over his face, a smile that Cuddy wanted to instantly wipe away in aggravation.

"What's so humorous?" she demanded to know.

House chuckled then, appreciating the irony of this. "Hey, don't forget you had just told me that there was nothing between us, I'd had a mental breakdown, you didn't even come to see me, not even once, I had no reason to believe I had a chance in hell of winning you, and… And _she _was the best thing that could have happened to me, given those circumstances," he concluded honestly.

Cuddy's lips pressed against one another as she studied him but then she looked away before hesitantly murmuring, "Did you love her?"

House shook his head, meeting her gaze. "Maybe in time I could have," he admitted, still uncertain why he was delving into these waters with Cuddy when there was no reason to justify doing so. "But her sister-in-law improved and… she moved back with her family to Arizona. That was the end of it."

"Why would you describe her as being the best thing that could have happened to you?" she hesitantly pressed, needing to understand this, needing to understand _him _and how this other woman she'd known nothing about up until now could classify as such, in his eyes.

House smiled as if for a moment he was somewhere else entirely but then he raised a shoulder and quietly voiced, "She… taught me things. She made me believe that maybe I was worth more than I thought I was. My world had fallen apart. Completely. And yet she didn't treat me like I was just another crazy person in an institution she visited all the time. She… She gave me a shot. She wasn't scared off by the fact that I was… where I was. She saw me as an equal. She… _cared_ about me. Maybe in the end she left. But she gave me a reason to survive it and believe I could come out of it and get my life back. I suppose she didn't do me any favors in being part of the reason I thought there was still hope for you and I when I came back, but then, that really wasn't _her_ fault."

"I should have come," Cuddy murmured then, wrapping her arms around herself as she stood before him, her expression revealing her regret.

House shook his head. "You didn't owe me anything. I doubt I would have wanted you to see me like that anyway. And besides, you'd moved on. I didn't mean anything to you."

House didn't say it as anything other than fact and yet she ached at hearing him say that. "You meant a lot to me," she corrected brokenly, staring into his eyes as her mouth trembled slightly in her utterance.

"You should go," House said then, pursing his lips. "My team should be back any minute with the results of the lab tests they ran and… You're with Lucas."

"I'll end it with him," she replied evenly, not even pausing to think about it. "Lucas… Lucas is _great_, but in the end it seems he's not what I want at all."

House's eyes closed momentarily but then he opened them to give her a pointed look and said, "But he _is _what you want, Cuddy. Right now you aren't thinking rationally. You're feeling guilty, as seems to be _eternally_ and _irrevocably _established as being in your genetic makeup, and I said… _things_ that have you questioning if you gave up too soon or too easily or… _something_, but you gave up because I wasn't what you wanted or needed. Right now you might think you want me, but tomorrow you'd regret it. I'm not going to be your regret. Not this time. I'm not going to let you throw away your marriage either. Not on me."

"I'm not _married_ to Lucas_,_" she objected incredulously, raising her chin up a notch a moment later at what she conceived to be a clear strike _against_ his logic.

"You might as well be," he argued, tilting his head down to stare at her somberly.

"House, that doesn't even make sense," Cuddy contested with a pout. This argument was a stupid one for many reasons, he clearly had a point not in saying he wasn't what she wanted but in the reality that she needed to be done with Lucas _before _they took things any farther, yet… she wanted what she wanted and she wanted it _now. _Waiting wouldn't change anything for her. There'd been enough waiting. And despairing. And retreating from what she really wanted most. And damn it all if she wasn't going to for once throw caution and wisdom and _everything else _to the wind! House had admitted things she had never expected him to be _capable of feeling_ for her and which… had instantly told her she wasn't where she wanted to be, regardless of how she'd deluded herself into thinking this was what she wanted; that _Lucas _was what she wanted.

House held her gaze, his mind clearly churning with thoughts, and she was just about to speak up and declare victory when he quietly and rather reluctantly stated with evident displeasure, "Lucas is going to ask you to marry him tonight."

Cuddy's whole expression changed to one of shock as she took a step away from him and it was at that point that House resigned himself to the fact that whether or not he'd wanted to, he'd made the right choice in turning her away. Breaking eye contact he turned away from her, but her hand came up to catch his arm before he could move further away than he already had.

"What makes you think that?" she asked softly, still thoroughly confounded by what he'd just said but figuring she might as well try to understand him while she could.

He ignored the question and mumbled, "You should go, Cuddy. You're about to get everything you ever wanted. I'm a selfish bastard but I'm not going to get in the way of your one shot of being happy."

"House, you're an idiot!" she huffed in frustration. "Just tell me what has led your _deranged_ mind to conclude he is proposing tonight."

House scowled but then muttered, "Because even if he's _less_ of a jerk than _I am_, he's _still_ a jerk. He called me up and said he needed me for a stakeout and I figured I might as well tag along, Wilson being off with Sam, and then we didn't even _go _on a stakeout. I ended up at a jewelry store with him. He just wanted to see my face when he informed me he was buying your engagement ring."

Cuddy's nose wrinkled as she frowned, her eyes squinting momentarily. Shaking her head she rolled her eyes and rhetorically asked, "Why do guys _do _that? What is it about your chromosomes that necessitate these displays of alpha dog behavior, competitiveness, one-upping, and rubbing one another's faces in things?"

House smirked a bit at her conclusions regarding the male gender at large but then cavalierly said, "Eh, you should be glad I was there. He doesn't know you like I do. You would have hated the ring he was thinking of getting you. I talked him into one that was an improvement over what he had planned to buy you though it still isn't _quite_ right for you. But I guess you'll take what you can get."

Cuddy scowled and tersely informed him, "House, I don't _need _an expensive engagement ring with an oversized diamond. Nor am I desperate enough to accept a Cracker Jack toy."

House chuckled that she thought this was about _how much_ Lucas had spent. While she was right in the conclusion she'd drawn that the ring wasn't amongst the most expensive rings the jeweler had carried, that hadn't been where his qualm had lied. "I never said you did," he retorted. "But it wasn't anything like the ring you've dreamed of _all your life_," he exaggeratedly threw in.

"And what would _you _know of the ring I've always _dreamed of?_ What makes you think that I ever dreamed of an engagement ring _at all?_" she haughtily inquired.

House's smirk returned as he rolled his eyes. "You never did give me enough credit for just how well I know you," he dryly quipped, shaking his head slightly in mock-exasperation.

"Shut up," she retorted, deciding this conversation wasn't going anywhere. She opened her mouth to state that talking about engagement rings was a moot point when she wouldn't be getting married at all but House was moving around his desk determinably and she fell silent as she watched him in confusion.

"I'll prove it to you," he said casually, bending slightly to pull open a drawer. She came around the desk to see what he was up to, unable to constrain her interest, but she needn't have, for he removed something from the drawer and then shut it quickly, turning back to her.

Cuddy frowned at the folded paper in his hand but her curiosity _had_ been stirred and House had her right where he wanted her, in a manner of speaking, for her attention was riveted completely upon him for once as she waited for an explanation. "What is that?" she asked when he made no move to explain, nor to unfold the paper.

A slight grin quirked the corner of his mouth but then he nonchalantly offered the paper to her. "It's the ring you've always dreamed of," he lightly teased her, rolling his eyes.

She narrowed her eyes, not quite trusting him, but she ultimately took the paper from his fingertips, unfolding it slowly even as she gave him a watchful, guarded look of suspicion. House's grin went full-blown into one of smugness though when she looked at the faded drawings contained within the sheet of yellowing, aged paper, visibly starting at what she found. Looking up at him in surprise she asked, "How did you…? Where did you _get this, House?_"

"I love when I do something that surprises you," he commented proudly.

Cuddy bit her lip but couldn't help the smile that lit up her face in this little move of his.

"I drove down to get your desk myself," House began to explain. "Your mom hadn't had time to do anything with it in the time between my call and when I showed up on her doorstep. She uncovered it only to find the drawers were not completely empty. Your mom… She made a big fuss about me coming for your desk. Found it really romantic or something equally _ridiculous_. She plied me with food and then made me sit nearby as she went through the drawers so I could take it with me when I left. She laughed when she came across this notebook and then launched into a story of how worried she'd been when you were a med student because you seemed to have no interest in getting married as you were so career-minded and driven. She said she would see you sometimes with this notebook and whenever she entered your room to see you writing in it, you'd always act oddly and shove it under whatever was close at hand. I guess her curiosity finally got the best of her because she snooped and was pleasantly surprised to see you were using it for doodling and dreaming, as she called it. She was especially pleased by the few pages you'd devoted to drawing this ring from several different angles. I think your mom went a little dewy-eyed at how I'd come for your desk and decided to tell me all this because she hoped you'd finally be getting that ring and she felt she'd received some modicum of affirmation that you weren't doomed to living the rest of your life, alone and unclaimed by someone of the male gender."

Embarrassed to have anyone know of what she considered to be rather juvenile behavior on her part and more idealistic than she wanted to admit having ever been, not to mention how chagrined she was by what her mother had done and House's equally insulting synopsis of things, Cuddy bit her lip but glibly said, "House, it's just something I drew when I was bored. Don't read anything into it."

House gave her a skeptical look but snatched the paper back from her before she could realize what he was about to do. "Good. Then you won't mind if I hang onto this," he replied, not missing the expression that crossed her face and the way she itched to demand he give it back to her, her fingers and thumb of the hand he'd removed it from twitching too late.

Steeling herself, she drew her shoulders up and dismissively responded, "No. If you want to hang onto something I drew over twenty years ago when I had nothing better to do, you can be my guest."

"Really?" he pressed doubtfully, searching her expression.

"Yes. Honestly, I could care less, House," she added, her chin lifting. "Do whatever you want to with it."

House nodded as if in acceptance of what she said and then reached for his drawer to tuck it back inside. But in doing so his eyes fell on the box that had rested beside it in his drawer and he couldn't resist pushing her to see just how determined she was to cling to her statement that the drawing was nothing of importance to her. Lifting it out, he tossed the small navy box in the air and then caught it, watching her face from the corner of his eye as she caught sight of what he was holding.

He watched her swallow hard, struggling to do even that, and then suppressed the smile that wanted to steal over his face when she stuttered out, "Hou- _House_. Wha- What is _that?_"

"Oh this? Nothing," he quietly shrugged off.

Cuddy gave him a dirty look but then wiped it from her face before murmuring in a tone that was obviously meant to cajole him into revealing whatever lay within, "It's obviously _something._"

"Yeah," House agreed vaguely, glancing her way. "But it's nothing that would mean anything to _you_. And actually, I'm glad of that. If you don't care then you can't exactly hold it against me if I'm unwilling to pass this on to Lucas despite the fact that he made it clear he intended to marry you. I mean after all, it's not like _he _went to the trouble of talking your mother into giving him that drawing and then intentionally sought out a jeweler who would agree to make it exactly as the drawing depicted it, not missing a single detail."

"You had my ring made exactly as I drew it?" she whispered, not sure she could believe him despite the fact that her eyes never wavered from the box in his hand, the longing in her eyes evident and filling him with immense satisfaction.

"Didn't miss a single detail," he repeated contentedly. And then he turned the box around in his hand and opened it just a millimeter, allowing it to snap shut without having revealed its contents in the slightest, provoking the gasp that left Cuddy's mouth a second later and the sudden movement of her hand to clutch at his forearm only adding to his pleasure when he tossed the box back up in the air and caught it this time with his other hand, tucking it into his pant pocket and out of her reach before she could stop him.

House had no idea how he'd gone from being solemnly resigned to her marrying Lucas to openly enticing her with a ring she hadn't known he'd possessed until five minutes ago. But he couldn't deny that he felt… _good_ right now. Like… Like all was not lost to him. And it suddenly struck him that as bizarre as it was and as unreasonable as it undeniably was to believe this could be true, he _had actually _done _something _that… kind of showed he wasn't _completely_ without anything to offer her. This was certainly not something anyone else had ever gone to the trouble of doing for her nor something anyone other than him would have possessed the extensive knowledge of her and her inner workings to think up.

In his distracted state House failed to notice Cuddy's quick release of his forearm as she darted around him, her hand slipping in his pocket and enclosing upon the little jewelry box within. He barely managed to catch her wrist before she could extract her hand and the ring box along with it.

"Drop it," he commanded, drawing the words out like one would with a dog that had your tennis shoe in its mouth.

Cuddy laughed happily but shook her head adamantly. "Nope."

"Your hand isn't coming out of my pocket until you drop it," he sternly pronounced.

Cuddy shrugged but then gave him another saucy smile before suggestively saying, "Well then, perhaps I'll take advantage of the opportunity to do some exploring."

"You wouldn't dare," he replied with certainty, his face shifting into the most skeptical and yet self-assured expression imaginable.

"Wouldn't I?" she queried dangerously, her voice clearly stating that she was more than willing to accept his challenge.

House studied her, trying to determine if she was serious. She didn't give him much time to debate however as she turned her hand slightly, not releasing the box but moving it enough to come dangerously close to doing what she was threatening to do.

"I'll marry you," she informed him then quite earnestly.

House choked on his shock but asked incredulously, "Just to get your hands on what's in my pocket?"

"Mmm, maybe it's to get my hands on what else you're hiding in this pocket," she hinted teasingly, the back of her fingers brushing against him increasingly closer to the area he'd originally discredited her in insinuating she'd willingly touch right now, given their circumstances, and evoking a small groan in the process.

"What in the hell is going on here?" Wilson demanded, having entered House's office without either of them aware of it.

And yet neither one released their grip on what they were holding, the ring box remaining in her palm and her hand _still_ within his pocket.

"Not what you think is going on here," House dryly quipped.

Cuddy smiled, enjoying Wilson's discomfort and yet his clear inability to look anywhere else but at where her hand was. Taking advantage of the opportunity to make him squirm, she informed him, "House has something in his pocket that I feel belongs to me."

"It doesn't belong to you," House corrected, rolling his eyes, thankful that she was at least somewhat behaving herself now that Wilson had entered the room, if this could count as _behaving at all_.

Cuddy took advantage of his slight distracted state in Wilson's appearance, working a fingernail into the box and then swiftly flipping the box open, making the bulge in House's pocket all the more conspicuous. The way House then said her name in warning didn't do anything to assure Wilson this was anything _other_ than what he thought it was, color suffusing his neck and ears immediately.

"I would disagree with you," she countered, ignoring Wilson's discomfort as he agitatedly ran a hand through his hair. "It _does_ belong to me. And it will _always _belong to me. It will certainly never belong to any other woman _but _me. It was made with _me_ in mind. I bet it even fits me _perfectly_."

"This is _wrong_," Wilson mumbled under his breath, a hand settling on his hip while the other left his hair to rub at his face. "You're with Lucas and now you're fooling around with House. At work no less. Either you're letting him jerk you around or you're jerking _him_ around. Oh," Wilson said in disgust, realizing how that could be taken by House's choked laughter. Shaking his head angrily, he pressed forward and said, "This… _This_ is going to end very badly and I'll be the one left picking up the pieces. Thanks a lot guys! I'm not even sure which one of you to try and reason with right now. Somehow I can't help questioning what illicit substance you've both just taken to bring this about. But _I'm_ leaving. I'm not going to get pulled into this. And I suggest you end this before someone gets hurt and certainly before your team returns. I ran into Thirteen in the hallway a few minutes ago. She was headed towards the lab but I wouldn't count on them staying gone long. She said they're only waiting on a simple blood test now."

"Wilson, it's not what you think," House dryly remarked as he watched his best friend turn, reaching for the door handle, clearly peeved with both of them. But Cuddy had managed to carefully extract the ring from the box and needing a distraction to force him into releasing his hold on her hand, it was with pride that she allowed the box to snap closed, only shutting halfway as it clamped down on something House had already asserted he didn't expect her to actually make contact with, with _anything._ His grunt, accompanied by the curse word that slipped out of his mouth, apparently didn't do anything to convince Wilson he was being genuine in his denials that this was what Wilson thought it was. As Cuddy extracted her hand deftly from House's pocket, quickly distancing herself from House's general vicinity, the office door slammed shut, marking Wilson's departure quite emphatically.

House reached into his pocket and eased the box open before pulling it out to find it empty and allowing it to shut once more before turning to glare at Cuddy. But Cuddy could have cared less. She stood there, admiring the ring she'd slipped on her ring finger under the light, blinking hard to keep from crying for it really was all she'd imagined it would be and so much more absolute in its perfection now that it was not simply an image concocted and drawn up by an idealistic youth but an actual living, breathing piece of her she could hold in her hand and wear as an adornment on her finger. Well, all except for the living, breathing part. She supposed that was taking the powers of imagination a bit too far, that part clearly being all in her head. Her eyes darted up to meet his and she tremulously smiled before prompting, "Well, are you going to ask me?"

"Cuddy, I am _not_ going to ask you to marry me," he retorted, still irritated with her for her little stunt from a minute ago and trying to figure out and strategize how he was going to get his ring back now.

"My answer's yes," she sweetly murmured, her eyes still upon the ring as she turned her hand side to side so that it could catch the light.

"That _wasn't_ a proposal," he muttered, rolling his eyes. "Now give me my ring back."

"Never," she replied, shaking her head as she moved out of his reach. "You bought me an engagement ring. That's just as good as a proper proposal."

"You're forgetting that you aren't actually in a relationship with me. I believe you have some other sucker on your hook. His name rhymes with Mucus. Remember him?" he sarcastically prodded.

"House… Just shut up. I care about Lucas and I'll do my best to break the news to him gently but… it's _you_ I want," she straightforwardly pronounced, her eyes now upon his. "It's _you_ I love. And… it's _always_ been you. So I don't care what you think we are right now but… I'm your boss and I _am _going to be your wife. End of discussion. It's not a request. It's… It's an _order_."

"I'm pretty sure that could classify as sexual harassment," he mumbled, but Cuddy didn't miss the fact that he was struggling to suppress a genuine smile.

"Mmm, how's this for sexual harassment?" she asked in a throaty whisper as she approached him, her hands running up his chest before entwining around his neck, her mouth pressing urgently to his in a sizzling, mind-numbing, breath-stealing kiss to end all kisses.

"Oh ga…," he rasped out unevenly when she finally released him, her eyes meeting his, a brilliant smile radiating from her lips in the seconds immediately afterward at how devastatingly mouthwatering he was all disoriented and yet rakishly handsome in his thorough confusion at what exactly had just happened since the moment she'd entered his office.

Pulling himself together, he latched onto the first statement he could come up with showing even a halfway decent amount of snark and demanded, "What did Lucas _do _to you to destroy evil Cuddy and replace her with this obnoxiously moon-eyed clone?"

"I'll end things with Lucas tonight as soon as he comes to the house," she happily declared, otherwise ignoring him and his statement designed to provoke her but which was failing dismally due to all that had just taken place. "And _you _will end things with whoever you spent last night with," she remembered to add, giving him a stern look to show she meant it and was still displeased about knowing he had been with someone else the night before, even if she was hardly one to talk.

"You don't even want to see the ring he picked out for you before you decide to kick him to the curb?" House inquired disbelievingly, too focused on this particular piece of information to really bother himself with what she'd added as a tagline.

Cuddy's smile returned and grew as she laughed at him before turning to make her way to the door, shooting a mischievous look back over her shoulder at him when she chose to answer him by saying, "You can take me out tomorrow night and we'll discuss a wedding date then."

House watched her make her exit, completely flummoxed, but then limped erratically to the door before she could make it all the way to the elevator, obnoxiously shouting after her, "I WILL _NOT _MARRY YOU, YOU EVIL SEDUCTRESS!"

She paused for a second in the hallway but then continued on, adding an extra swing to her hips just for him. "Oh yes you will," she affirmed under her breath, not deigning to respond to him at the present time, satisfied just by the fact that he'd actually allowed her to make her escape _without _getting the ring she was still wearing back from her.

House watched her go, a self-satisfied smirk on his lips where he stood in the doorway, leaning against the jamb, thinking that he wasn't exactly _that _opposed to marrying one Lisa Cuddy, Dean of Medicine and possessor of one _smokin' hot bod_, _eventually, _so long as she _did _drop Lucas in the immediate future. He waited until the elevator doors opened for her, she entered and then turned around, making eye contact with him then tossing her hair, her chin rising assertively into the air, before he rolled his eyes and reentered his office, telling himself that there was no way he'd been smiling the way he now was while she'd been returning the stare a moment ago, clearly feeling she'd won and had herself the promise of an impending marriage to _him _in the near future.

It wasn't until Wilson practically tripped over himself in his haste to enter House's office five minutes later, finding House sitting behind his desk, "_You're_ _engaged?!", _incredulously gushing from Wilson's lips like a broken pipe startled you awake in the middle of the night as it spewed water everywhere in your home before the door was even shut behind him, that House's eyes widened, the realization that Cuddy still possessed his ring rendering him speechless and aghast, suddenly recognizing that Cuddy could tell people _whatever she wanted _and have them _believe _her, for she had the proof to back it up, _sort of anyway._

Groaning, his hands came up, elbows resting on his desk, face planting in his palms shortly thereafter.

"I can't believe I'm your best friend and you didn't even _tell me first_," Wilson grunted out in clear annoyance. "I didn't even know you'd bought her a ring! But I guess it made one hell of a last minute, no holds barred, effort at subterfuge, putting an end once and for all to this Lucas crap," he huffed with a _slight _decrease in the tone of his hostility.

_This _was going to be a very _long day_, House thought to himself, mortified at how easily Cuddy had gained the upper hand as he blocked out Wilson's incessant whining about how he had to hear it from Cuddy instead of straight from House. Yes. A _very long day, _indeed.

* * *

_(Aren't one-shots fun?!)_


End file.
